Media Messages and Audiences

A message in a bottle … and a journey round the world | Adventure travel |  The Guardian

Week 4 Conscious Practitioner

Dr Digdem Sezen

digdem.sezen@uca.ac.uk

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, you will be able to:
Identify how media messages communicate values, ideologies, and worldviews.
Reflect on your own practice as conscious media creators.
Critically evaluate how games can reinforce or challenge dominant narratives.
(Çizgili Liste)

Message

A message in a bottle … and a journey round the world | Adventure travel |  The Guardian

What messages do your favourite games communicate, intentionally or unintentionally?

Celeste (video game) - Wikipedia
Celeste (video game) - Wikipedia
Papers, Please Review & User Ratings
Papers, Please Celebrates Its 10th Birthday
Papers, Please review | Eurogamer.net
Papers, Please - Apps on Google Play

Stuart Hall’sEncoding / Decoding Model (1980)

Communication is not a straight line; it’s a cultural process.

Stuart Hall

Culture, media, language : working papers in cultural studies, 1972-79 :  Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Stuart Hall’s Three Reading Positions:

Reading Type

Player Interpretation

Dominant / Preferred Reading

It’s a sharp, dark satire of modern society, a parody of greed, violence, and media culture.

Negotiated Reading

It’s fun and well-made, but its satire feels hypocritical. It critiques violence and sexism while profiting from them.

Oppositional Reading

It glorifies toxic masculinity, crime, and misogyny. There’s no real critique, just indulgence.

Grand Theft Auto V - Wikipedia
giyim, kişi, şahıs, dış mekan, bina içeren bir resim

Yapay zeka tarafından oluşturulmuş içerik yanlış olabilir.

Detroit Become Human (Quantic Dream, 2018)

Encoding: What the Producers Intended

Detroit: Become Human (Original Soundtrack) - Compilation by Various  Artists | Spotify

Decoding: How Audiences Interpret It

Reading Type

Example Player Interpretation

Why it Matters

Dominant (Preferred) Reading

This is a powerful allegory about empathy, freedom, and civil rights. The game makes us reflect on prejudice and morality.

Accepts the intended liberal-humanist message encoded by the developers.

Negotiated Reading

The story is moving and thought-provoking, but it simplifies real oppression and racial struggles. Androids aren’t humans, so the metaphor only goes so far.

Acknowledges the intention but questions how well the metaphor works.

Oppositional Reading

This is a tone-deaf appropriation of the Black civil rights movement, using robot suffering to mimic real trauma. It commodifies activism.

Rejects the encoded meaning and critiques the politics of representation and authorship.

Kara | Detroit: Become Human Wiki | Fandom
Connor | Detroit: Become Human Wiki | Fandom

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 2019)

Animal Crossing: Encoding Meaning

Animal Crossing (Nintendo, 2019): Decoded meaning

Reading Type

Player Interpretation

Example Insights

Dominant Reading

This is a relaxing, positive escape, a world of kindness and creativity.

Accepts the encoded fantasy of balance, harmony, and productivity.

Negotiated Reading

It’s peaceful, but it still pressures me to grind for rewards and debt repayments.

Enjoys the calm tone but recognises underlying capitalist or consumerist logic.

Oppositional Reading

This is capitalist propaganda disguised as cuteness, a simulation of debt, consumption, and endless labour.

Rejects the message of wholesome work, viewing it as ideology wrapped in comfort aesthetics.

Medium is the Message

A message in a bottle … and a journey round the world | Adventure travel |  The Guardian
The Tube: Television Flow Trips - Little Village
metin, ekran görüntüsü, gazete içeren bir resim

Yapay zeka tarafından oluşturulmuş içerik yanlış olabilir.

One screen, one schedule, collective viewing

Everyone gathered around the same television, at the same time. Programming was scheduled and flowed in a fixed order. The medium encouraged simultaneous viewing, shared reactions, and conversation.

Social and cultural implications

The Personal Screens

Small screens, big effects: How screen media shapes early childhood |  Magazine issue 3/2025 - Issue 59 | In-Mind

Medium characteristics

Small screens, big effects: How screen media shapes early childhood |  Magazine issue 3/2025 - Issue 59 | In-Mind

Social and cultural implications

Small screens, big effects: How screen media shapes early childhood |  Magazine issue 3/2025 - Issue 59 | In-Mind

In McLuhan’s Terms

Small screens, big effects: How screen media shapes early childhood |  Magazine issue 3/2025 - Issue 59 | In-Mind